Using road works to enhance community water supplies in Mozambique

Auteur

DFID

Description

Access to water supply is poor in rural Mozambique particularly in the dry season. Efforts are being made by the Government of Mozambique to increase access to water supply in the rural areas. At the same time, the government is also striving to improve road infrastructure to facilitate better connection between rural urban areas and hence increase the economic development.

These road networks being constructed or improved require construction materials such as sand and stones and as a result, excavations are made along the roads to extract these materials.

These excavations known as borrow pits tend to store water during the rains and are referred to as ‘road ponds’. Road ponds can also be formed by building road crossing structures on water courses that retain storm water. Communities that are in close proximity to these road ponds use them as a source of water supply for domestic purposes, watering animals, irrigation and for recreation.